15 drug suppliers jailed for their part in deals worth £30m

The leaders of the multi-million pound drugs operation based in both Hartlepool and Liverpool were jailed at Teesside Crown Court last Thursday but yesterday the other main players in the organised crime learned their fate.

The court heard that drugs were not only transported between Hartlepool and Liverpool but Belfast and London and several of the two main gangs had previously been convicted for drugs offences in Europe.

The plan was to flood the streets of Teesside with heavily adulterated cocaine and amphetamine and "vast quantities" were moved across the Pennines.

Last week Hartlepool ringleaders Adrian Morfitt, of Caistor Drive, and David Garside, of Hampstead Gardens, were jailed for 12 years and eleven years and eight months, respectively. Liverpool drug dealers Ian Stanton, 44, was jailed for 16 years and Keith Watson, 38, for 15 years and four months.

Yesterday, Neal Gutteridge, 30, of Gower Walk, Hartlepool, was sentenced to seven years behind bars for conspiracy to supply cocaine, amphetamine and cannabis as well as for separate money laundering charges. The court was told Gutteridge was involved in handing over 25kilos of amphetamine worth £1.3 million to a Newcastle customer.

Darren Crossley, 31, of Galsworthy Road, Hartlepool, was also jailed for seven years after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply supply cocaine.

Paul Rudd, 34, of Arncliffe Gardens, Hartlepool, was jailed for four years for conspiracy to supply amphetamine and was a courier for the operation. He had been a firefighter for eight years.

Richard Ryan, 36, of Marlowe Road, Hartlepool, was described in court as "a trusted lieutenant" for Morfitt and Garside and mixed amphetamine with caffeine and other adulterants. He was sentenced to six years.

Mark Williamson, 37, of Marlowe Road, Hartlepool, was sentenced to three years and four months for intention to supply amphetamine. He was tempted into crime after being made redundant from the Army after 14 years in which he served his country in Afghanistan, Iraq, Bosnia and Kosovo and Judge Peter Armstrong told him he had "given exceptional service to your country."

Also sentenced for conspiracy to supply drugs from the North-West and Wales were: Paul Mullen,51, of Badger Bank, Wrexham who got eight years; Lisa Archer, 39, of Badger Bank, Wrexham, two years eight months; John Knowles, 34, of Litherland Road, Bootle, seven-and-a-half years; John Parry, 47, Hornby Road, Liverpool, three years and six months; Paul Wilson, 47, of The Orchard, Huyton, Liverpool, six years; Christopher Evans, 51, Marine Crescent, Buckshaw Village, Chorley, nine years and four months; Shaun Stanton, 23, Road West, Crosby, five-and-a-half years; Michael Moore, 37, Lisburn Lane, Liverpool, six years and eight months and Mel Lawrenson, 35, of Higher End Park, Bootle, three years.

After the sentencing Det Insp Sarah Robinson of Cleveland Police said: "Drugs blight the everyday life of many people in our communities. I hope that they are reassured that Cleveland Police will continue to bring justice to those at the very top of the drugs world."